Long Time No See
by katale
Summary: In which Gajeel and Levy grow up together until Levy moves and leaves Gajeel behind. What happens when they finally meet again? I'll give you a hint, it involves hugs, tears, explanations and threatening blondes.


Hey hey. I was bored and finally decided to finish this story. I honestly started this like more than a year ago but couldn't be bothered to finish it. Anyway, this is something I just thought of and I was like why not.

So in this story, Gajeel is never part of Phantom Lord and grew up with Levy, rather than meeting her and pinning her to a goddamn tree. Well, yeah just read it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail nor it's characters. (If anyone catches the little reference, I don't own Clannad either.)

* * *

Long Time No See

The guild was just as lively as usual with fights being thrown every ten minutes. Levy was sitting at her usual table, Jet and Droy fawning over her while she talked with Lucy about books. They were discussing the new book that had recently come out by their favourite author.

"Have you finished it yet? Ohh, it's so good!" Levy squealed, excitement practically oozing out of her pores.

"No! Don't spoil it for me! I'm sooo close to finishing it!" Lucy begged, covering her ears exaggeratedly. She had only a couple chapters to go, meaning a good thirty minute's read.

Sighing, Levy calmed down a little and agreed to Lucy's wish, "Okay, okay. But where are you up to at least?"

A second's recall and Lucy answered, "I just got up to the part where Tomoya finished reading the fairy tale to Ushio."

 _Fairy tale. Fairy tale. Fairy tale._

A memory flashed through Levy's mind, something from a long time ago, a memory that she had forgotten.

 _A little Levy - smaller than the current - tugged on the arm of a boy not much older than her. His short dark, messy hair was a large contrast to her bright cerulean curls. Dark red eyes turned to her, a sharp glare ready to be aimed at the child. The boy was one that not many dared to cross, although scrawny and young, he had the dark and broody expression down to a tee._

 _Seemingly completely ignoring the look on his face, Levy proceeded to pull him onto a couch where a Lacrima TV was on and ready to play a movie._

 _"Let's watch a movie!" she squealed, curls bouncing everywhere, puppy-dog eyes activated and bright red cheeks from happiness._

 _The boy groaned as a response but settled onto the couch, arm wrapped comfortably around the smaller child. He grabbed a blanket and laid it across their laps, Levy laying with her head resting on his shoulder. They turned it on and the opening scene to a princess movie started._

 _Towards the end of the movie, the boy grunted in annoyance, "Why does the dragon get beaten every time? A stupid prince can't fight against a big dragon. Fairy tales never make any sense."_

 _Levy sighed, shaking her head, "Silly Gajeel. You wouldn't understand."_

A small smile crept onto Levy's face at the short memory. It was from when she was younger - maybe five or six years old - with her best friend, Gajeel. She hadn't seen him since then, moving away the next day without even having time to say goodbye to him. Levy had always wondered what had happened to him after that, if he was a mage like her and if so, what type of magic would he have? What if he was already married? What if he had changed his looks so much that she wouldn't recognise him? Or what if they met and he had never forgiven her for not saying anything to him before leaving. Maybe he didn't even remember her anymore.

Levy still remembered her old best friend - his short black hair that always spiked out everywhere, those piercing red eyes, his short stature (although she doubted he would be shorter than her anymore) and the fact that he already had his ears pierced at a young age. The smile on her face slowly slipped off when she thought of how she had left without telling him. The night that they watched the movie, Levy's parents had told her that they would be moving cities the day after as both had been offered better positions in their respective jobs. Levy had never seen him again since, not knowing the boy's contact details, apart from his last name - Redfox.

A gentle nudge to her side brought Levy's attention to the blonde sitting next to her, "You okay, Levy-chan? You blanked for a minute."

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine. Just remembered something from when I was young." She said. The only people in the guild who knew about Gajeel was Lucy and Master. Master had squeezed the story about her past out of her when she first joined Fairy Tail while she had spilled her guts to Lucy once during a sleepover of theirs.

Lucy nodded and opened her mouth to speak when a loud shout from the large doors interrupted her.

"We're home!" Natsu shouted at the top of his lungs with Happy resting on his head comfortably. They had been missing from the guild since the morning when they had decided to go fishing. A dark shadow standing next to the rambunctious pair had Levy tilted her head to the side in curiosity. It was obvious that the shadow was nothing to be worried about when Natsu suddenly grabbed the arm of the mystery person and proceeded to drag them into the guild, with a muttered "Hurry up, Metal Breath."

With each step into the guild, the shadow lifted off the mystery person until he was in full sight. His long unruly black hair and crazy piercings were the first things that Levy took notice of. A quiet voice in the back of her mind whispered that it strangely suited him, while another told her that she was quite blatantly staring at the man. She couldn't help it though, something about the guy was so familiar to her. His sheer height and build shocked her slightly - compared to her small height, he could have been a giant.

The man looked around the guild with an almost nervous look, as if he were looking for something. Or someone. His gaze swept across the room and when they stopped on her, she almost fell out of her chair because of the visible joy, adoration and - still - nervousness that appeared in those familiar red eyes. The eyes that she had only ever seen on one other person.

Levy absentmindedly registered that the guild had gone quiet in the background, although her attention was fully on the large man staring at her.

Levy realised a moment too late that the man was walking towards her with purpose and determination. Her breath caught in her throat when he stopped directly in front of her (sometime during his entrance she had stood up) and wrapped his arms around her in a large bear hug. The whisper of "Long time no see, Lev" in her ear brought tears to her eyes and her arms automatically moved to wrap around his broad shoulders.

"G-Gajeel?" His name came out in a stuttered sob, hope blossoming in her chest. The tears in her eyes overflowed and rolled down her cheeks when she felt him nod into her neck. "Oh my god, Gajeel. It's really you. Oh my god, oh my god." Her lips lifted into a smile and she couldn't hold back her words, repeating them over and over again.

All of a sudden, he let out a small whoop and lifted Levy up to spin her around. "I've missed ya Lev," he laughed.

"Mmm. Missed you too Gajeel."

The - not exactly private - reunion between old best friends was quickly interrupted by Jet and Droy shouting in unison, "Who are you to hug Levy like that? She's mine!"

Levy and Gajeel sprung apart like they had been shocked and looked around the room. Mira was quietly sobbing into her handkerchief, Lucy had a large smile on her face, knowing exactly who the large man was - as did Makarov, Jet and Droy had gotten into a bit of a squabble over their small blunette friend and everyone else was looking at them in confusion. The two shrugged and looked at each other then sat down at the table Levy was originally at.

While sitting at the table together, they got to know each other again, this time as mature people and not as children. They discussed their respective magic and what they had been doing since they had last seen each other. ( _"I can't believe that you're_ still _a shrimp Lev." "Shut up Gajeel, you just grew too much."_ ) At last, they came to the topic of _why_ they hadn't seen each other in years.

"I'm sorry Gajeel." Levy whispered, feeling ashamed that she had never told her best friend anything before leaving. The silence that was coming from him however made her look up at him hesitantly. Seeing the confusion on his face caused her to become a bit confused too as it seemed like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Eh? Why're you apologising, Lev? You have nothing to apologise for. That's what I'm here to do." Gajeel said, thrusting a thumb at his own chest.

Although still confused about what he wanted to apologise for, Levy was still determined to apologise but let him get whatever he had off of his chest first.

"Okay, so you remember the last time we saw each other? We watched that stupid princess movie of yours." Gajeel asked her and Levy nodded, scrunching her nose when he called the movie stupid ( _it was not stupid, she still loved that movie!_ ). "Well, that night, my mum and dad told me that we were moving to Hargeon. They had already packed everything up and me, being the stupid brat I was, didn't even realise it. We left the next day and I never got to say anything to you about it. So that's why you never saw me again."

Levy's mouth was hanging open in shock and confusion. Gajeel thought that he had left her behind without saying anything, which was exactly what she thought too. They had both moved houses without knowing it and thought that it was their fault that they had never seen each other again. Until now.

A giggle slipped past her lips, which soon turned into laughter that she couldn't hide anymore. When she thought about it, it was kind of ridiculous.

The look on Gajeel's face cause her to burst into more giggles, he looked so confused and at the same time upset, almost with a pout on his face.

Levy tried to calm down and when she finally succeeded, explained. "Sorry sorry. I couldn't help it. It's just that I thought the same thing as you did." At the even more confused look on his face, she elaborated more. "See, that same night, my parents told me that we were moving to Crocus… I also left the next day without being able to talk to you about it."

Gajeel still looked shocked and a bit relieved that she didn't blame him for leaving her. When he realised what she was saying, the irony and comedy of the entire situation caught up to him and he let out loud laughter in his own special way, "Gihihihi" just they way Levy remembered it and it made her smile.

All of a sudden a voice cut into their conversation, breaking the little bubble they had formed around themselves, reminding Levy that they were still in the guild and not alone like she had thought.

"So, Levy-chan. Do you want to introduce me to your friend?"

"Ah! Lu-chan. Sorry sorry. I completely forgot. Lu-chan, this is Gajeel. Gajeel, this is Lucy." Levy gestured between them, hoping that they would get along with each other.

Gajeel grunted and nodded in Lucy's direction, making Levy roll her eyes. While Lucy? Well…

"So, you're the Gajeel I've heard about huh? Well just so you know, Levy's _my_ best friend now. And if you hurt her in any way whatsoever, you won't just have me to deal with, you'll have a whole angry guild on your ass." Lucy's little speech was supported by several shouts of agreement from around the large room, and Levy just face palmed.

When she looked at Gajeel however, all she could do was grin, knowing that she had her old best friend back. Gajeel grinned back at her, just happy that he had found her again.

 _"Love ya, Lev."_

 _"I love you too, Gajeel."_

(And no matter what everyone else said, they did _not_ love each other _that_ way.)

* * *

This is the product to my boredom. Hope it wasn't too crappy. Also, to anyone who caught the Clannad reference, high-five to you!

Guess what, so I've been working at Maccas for the last 5-6 months, Mcdonalds to any non-Australians. It's been not bad but could be better I guess. I also broke up with my boyfriend before I started my job and then he sorta got a job at Maccas too... So I work with my ex, it's not too bad though, we talk and get along so it's not too awkward I guess? I don't know.

Anyway, please review, I would love to hear any comments you have.


End file.
